The 5 Best Free Apps for Gaijin

While Apple’s App Store is taking the tech world and our phones by storm, it has been making our life in Japan a little easier. As devoted Apple fans we have both an iPod Touch (iTouch) and an iPhone. Here is our list and review of the 5 best free apps for Gaijin (foreigners). The apps are helpful for those in Japan, learning the language or both. *Note: They are in order of usefulness (from our own experience).

#1 Kotoba! : An incredible app that serves as our English to Japanese & Japanese to English dictionary. While there are little pocket e-dictionaries in every students hand, we like Kotoba because it can always use romanji (English). We use it constantly for the smallest things and it makes communicating much easier. The app keeps getting better with updates. Some of its features: Romanji, Kanji, hiragana, katakana spellings; meanings; type of word (adj, noun, verb); Kanji decomposition; sentence examples, Lists, and favorites. Price: Free

#2 J Phrases (Free) : A simple app for learning. There is an upgrade available, but there’s nothing better than free. J Phrases makes basic words and their sounds readily available. One of the best apps for those looking for a starting place. The vocab it uses is simple, but very practical. No frills here; just solid Japanese. It doesn’t dive into sentence structure much, but it gives you some of the key words and building blocks to get around Japan and the Japanese language.  Some of its features: Lessons; Study Cards; Flash Cards; Quizzes; Study Bank. Price: Free. The free version seems to have disappeared; here is the link to the full-pay-for-version of the app.

#3 Kana Strokes : An app for learning both Hiragana and Katakana (the Japanese syllabary systems). It not only shows you the corresponding romanji it also focuses on writing the Japanese. It shows each stroke in motion and in order. Very helpful for those learning to read Japanese. Overall, it is very basic, but can be very powerful. Some of its features: Displays each syllabary in its entirety, shows writing strokes, and its kanji origin. Price: Free

#4 Human Japanese Lite V2.0 : Although this app isn’t something you want to pull out if you’re trying to understand what the cashier is telling you, it is great for a number of other things. It gives detailed explanations (broken into chapters) of pronunciation, the writing system, hiragana, geography, greetings, and verbs. Very useful information for those of ask who tend to ask, “Why?”. It is more intensive than J Phrases and provides a depth most language apps miss. It may not be for everyone, but it is a must try. Some of its features: Chapters, Quizzes, Dictionary, sounds, explanation of grammar and sentence structure. Price: Free (As the Lite indicates there is a pay-for-upgrade available, but I haven’t used it.)

#5 Kanji Sensei : Kanji apps are littered throughout the App Store. Many cost somewhere between $1 and $5. There are a handful that are free. Kanji Sensei seems to be the best. Personally, learning Kanji shouldn’t be a big priority for those jumping into Japanese. It’s not very often that you communication takes place on paper. Japanese people spend much of their education years on kanji and it is still difficult for them. Some kanji is useful, but dedicating time to kanji over speaking, vocab, and listening skills is a waste. The app does a good job of teaching Kanji quickly, but it has a few flaws. For one it only provides the English translation, not the Japanese. It’s a good primer for further study and gets the brain thinking in “pictures”. Some of its features: Quizzing (Reading Tutor), and Writing Tutor. Price: Free

There are many other apps out there that may be better or more useful, but these 5 have served us best. If we find more we can’t live without we’ll add them and/or make a new list.

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